Mid trip reflection
Hey guys,
I know i wrote quite recently, but right now i’m in the mood for a bit of blogging (will and david, i actually mean blogging!).
this past week has been a bit of a mixture of experiences. i must also warn readers, that due to extreme heat my brain matter has slowly been dying off, therefore, when im writing i may get things mixed up or totally go off at a tangent. I WARNED YOU!!
So this is what i remember of Monday. i was in bed….all day, I was a bit sick but i am totally over that. so thats boring.
tuesday was cool, from what i remember. went to work, came home, and then Lisa’s friends had come over to hayastan for a couple of days and she was soo stoked that they were here. so we all went out for a drink. we dressed up (to all my friends who are reading this…..i also dressed up….yeh i did!!). it was cool, went to different places in Yerevan to enjoy the nightlife…good times.
i cant actually remember what happened wednesday, but thursday saw the group particiapte in the Film Festival. Vic was late from work so we had to leave without her, and Anahid went to her friends. so the rest of the group went to the Kino-ee doon…i.e. the cinema. so i had to translate for the rest of the group and i basically misunderstood and thought that we were going to watch one film in that specific screening. so we took our seats in this huuuge Soviet style cinema. it was extremely hot and uncomfortable. i assume that in those times they thought a wooden chair at a right angle covered in the thinnest of woven fabric would be suitable as a chair…but it added to the ambience. so anyway, the film started and it was teh most random 15 minute film i had seen in my entire life…i was soooo confused…and going back to those who know me…when i get confused, my face goes all stunned like and i sit in a daze for a good 20 mins trying to work out what just happened. so when the first film had finished i was ready to leave, but hten another film started after that, bare in mind that we were all sweating our body weight..i must have lost a good 5 lbs at least!! once the second film had finished i actually got up from my chair, and then the third film started!!!! it was like a never ending torture of heat, discomfort and films i didnt wholly comprehend. after the third film i really wanted to get out of there, so we all got up and left, even though another film started. I am still confused..bad style.
after leaving the cinema david wanted to get abck to the hotel and collectively people wanted to go out to get some food. i on the other hand, realised (during the course of the films where i was dazed) that i hadnt eaten enough fruit. so i went shopping. last time i came my family discovered a nice little supermarket on the way to Nalbandian Boghoda from the Vernisage. i went straight to the fruits and vegetable section and bought the best of apples and oranges, then went and got a litre of pure orange juice, bits an’ all, then some junk food for when we go on a trip. i kind of ran home, washed the fruit and ate some of the fruit. i had to make sure i didnt get scurvy…us british limies!!!!
whilst all this was happening, my sister (Vic) had returned home, and left again. A quick note: i havent seen victoria for longer than a period of 3 weeks this year. primarily due to the RIDICULUS dentistry schedule at uni. so when i was informed that both vic and i (not my ickle sister lucine…love yah!) would be going to hayastan for a month, i thought that this would be an opportunity for myself and vic to catch up. however, at uni we would still talk to one another on the phone, here……? well, she leaves at 8.30 am….i wake up at 8.59 am for 9.00 am breakfast. she doesnt get home till late..when by that time i have left with other members of the group….so when i saw her for the first time after her oncall….i introduced my self as her long lost sister since i hadnt actually spoken to her for like 3 days…no joke. Ok, back to the story. so vic had come back from work at 8.15 pm, realised that everyone else was at the film festival, so left to meet her friends from the hospital and go to another cinema. she took her seat, in what she described as being a Warner Bro’s. Style Cinema (no ad made….other cinema’s available!) and she was not only comfortable in her huge PADDED chair, in a room which hand AIR CONDITIONING, but she also sat like 4 seats away from the one and onlyAtom Egoyan. for the record, victoria has been on Hayastan 1 (the main channel of armenia), twice, been intervied for a newspaper, met Vasken Oskanyan when she was like 10, and sat in a 2 metre vacinity of Atom Egoyan…from now on, vic doesnt leave me. I’m not jealous at all by the way..*shifty eyes*. hehehe
This week for me was a total blurr as i said before. On thursday i thought it was wednesday and that caused me to get totally mixed up with dates and what not. so friends who i was meant to meet up with on Friday for lunch, thinking it was a thursday lunch were stood up…SORRY!!
Friday 0800 saw the commence of the journey to Artsagh. the journey was long and tiresome and took us a good 13 hours to get there. we stopped off at several places to enjoy the cultural treasures. I have previously been to Artsagh with my family in 2001. on the way we stopped off at a restaurant to have lunch. obviously a toilet trip was also in need since we had been in the car for a good while. so we made full use of the wc facilites. As my family will remember it was a wooden shed, with a pit about 10-12 feet deep, the floor made of wood, and a hole in the floor. it stank…no..reeked of stale urine. that smell is actually embedded into my nose. this time however, i am pleased to announce that the wooden shed has changed into a brick-made shed.
we got to our hotel at around 11 pm, went to our rooms to dump our stuff and went back downstairs to have a quick bite to eat. we were all absolutly exhausted and felt quite dirty from the journey. so we went to our rooms to wash and sleep. the rooms, although by no means the worst hotel or house that i have stayed in (i.e. nothing like Spitak), still did not fully function. i have previously stayed in a hotel which had no hot water, used freezing water straight from the mountains to have a shower, slept in a flee and insect infested bed alongside two of my sisters, had to physically flush away toilet…stuff by use of a bucket due to to water…lived in a house with limited electricity..etc. therefore, the htoel for me was still luxury to what i had expected. i am by no means fussy. furthermore, although i have physically lived like a hayastantsee, i have not had the worry of money problems, or knowing that this was going to be my live for ever. everyone who has come here knows that they are here for a limited period of time and therefore can survive here with the knowledge of returnign back to the life they grew up in. also, we dont cook here or worry about electricity of water cuts. we live in a hotel where we are more or less guarenteed water and electricity, and food…well that costs pennies. I know, I know, i went off at a tangent. back to what i was saying…we all went back to our rooms and i went to check out the bathroom. toilet works, sink works and shower…well it works but there was no water pressure so i couldnt wash my hair. not fussing but the road was all dust and it was hot…so hair was dirty cos teh dust and sweat turned into mulshy hardness. so for the weekend my hair remained scraped back and away from other humans!! we slept well and were up for breakfast at 8.30am. I have to point out that there may be a marriage amongst a member of our group. Hrant found his future wife…congratulations eddie!!! the rest of the day we visited Dadig and Babig, the national museum of Artsagh and then we went to a beautiful church. we got back to the hotel around 7.00 and left for some food in the Haraberag (Square) at 7.30pm. the girls (lisa, alene, carla and rita) went a different place then the rest of us. the majority of the group went with the bestest tour guide (susanna) and the bus driver (Ararat) and got way too many pizza’s and their version of cheesburger i.e.: no meat!! we then went back to the hotel and chilled till around 1am.
sunday saw the last day in Artsagh. we woke up at 9am and made our way to Shushi. we went to the canyon and i went quite far down and right to the edge of one of the rocks and sat down. everyone (vic included) had a bit of a heartattack. but i was quite excited so i was really jumping around the places quite a bit. i’d put the photo of it on, but im actually at work right now. its really quiet so ive been given free time. so yeh, otherwise i’d put the picture up. i totally adored it there. i satyed down there so long that the watermelon that everyone was eating finsihed….and i had none …never forgive them!! nah…it was totally worth it. definatly one of the most important and beautiful places to visit….ever. i really could just build a house on the top and live there forever.
after the group prised me away from the canyon, we made our way to badarag (service). however, we were on a slight time limit so we only stayed for half an hour. it was really good, and to top it off, THE most cutest kid was there. it had amazingly huge blue eyes, and a beautiful round face. (no, ma im not talkin about myself…hehehehehehe, he was way cuter).
Gorsi was our next stop to visit Karahunge (Stone Hendge). everyone climbed rocks and Susanna gave us a good background to the place. apparently, the stone henge in england is named after the one in haystan, and the holes in the rocks were watching points so that astromical activity could be observed froom a constant point. it was really good.
lunch was the next event. it was a really random place so i cant really explain it. however, we had the usual…khorovadz but not chicken, pork…everyone is slighlty bored of chicken since that is really the only meat we are eating. some of us had special Kotayk, which i think was about 15%. it was horrible so i had the normal one and left the stronger ones to the lads. on the way back home everyone was really tired. but Hrant had the best idea i think he has had since he decided to come to hayastan. he introduced us to the wonders of Mafia. he explained the card game to us and slowly we all became experienced in the game. it passed 4 hours like 5 minutes and i felt that it brought the group soooo much closer. we were laughing and talking for four hours straight. alliances were formed whilst enemies were identifed. the most noticable enemies were betweeen vic and boghos, and vic and eddie. eddie tried to vote victoria out on every game…he really had somehting against her!! i tried to be the narrator, however, i think it is safe to say i failed miserably. apartently, i killed off a person that the mfia didnt chose to kill, but i, honest to God, thought that they pointed to Rita not Eddie, and then when there was one mafia left…..instead of saying “mafia wake up” i said “carla” everyone realised my mistake and i was on the floor laughing so hard i got cramp!!!! it was soooooo good that we came back to teh hotel and played it till around 2 am.
oh yeh, nearly forgot we also made it to the Areni wine factory. i didnt like any of the wines, but i think David fell in love with the 1997 red dry. it was really fun though!!
right i really think that this has become long enough to be David’s and Eddie’s dissertation (you guys are welcome to use it by the way!)
make sure that you comment on not only this one, but other people’s blogs as well. we really appreciate it!!
ill speak to you all soon…2 weeks left
Lots of love
Noush
July 19th, 2005 at 3:41 am
Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to say that your blogs are AWESOME, and I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with all of us who aren’t there with you this summer
Keep making each moment count guys and learning and giving all you can, but know that you are all VERY missed!
Love,
Mary Ann
PS ~ Congrats on “the Mrs.” Eddy!